Partners Gone Awry
by munnins-memory
Summary: The usual cast goes to high school. And high school means assigned partners. Enjoy the shenanigans.


**Right, so this was supposed to be a revision of When Opposites Attract, but I thought it was too terrible to edit, so I wrote a new one.**

**Let me know if you have any issues with my story. I'll change anything within reason. 3**

Chapter 1

The days always started off loud. This was almost always thanks to Takeshi Saehara. As each day arrived, he almost always had some reason to pull at his brown hair, much to the annoyance of his classmates.

"Ugh! Guys! Don't you realize what today is?"

"The first day of school? I think we've all realized that." The first day of high school, the whole class was nervous and watching Takeshi.

"No you idiot! Well, that is also true, but we have to have partners! ASSIGNED PARTNERS! For the rest of the school year!" Takeshi's expression was panicked and he was tugging at his hair. The rest of the class was either rolling their eyes or laughing silently.

"What's so bad about that Saehara-kun?"

"What's so bad? We don't choose! What if we get partnered with some random person we don't like, or some guy or what if it's Satoshi? But on the other hand, what if we get a cute girl? How will we know? It could be anyone!"

Daisuke furrowed his brows. "I don't see what's so wrong with being Hiwatari-kun. He's really smart; You'd probably get way better grades."

"Yeah, but I can't ogle Satoshi! He doesn't have these!" Takeshi mimed breasts and grinned at Daisuke's reddening face.

"Why is Niwa-kun's face turning as red as his hair?" Takeshi jumped and backed away from Satoshi.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Why is Niwa-kun's face red? I assume you would know, standing in front of him like you are."

"I was…I mean, he uh…How long have you been here?"

"I just walked in."

"I just told him a dirty joke is all." Takeshi looked utterly relieved.

Satoshi narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"That doesn't actually surprise me all that much Saehara-kun. Why exactly are you so relieved that I just arrived?"

"Oh, shut up."

"I take it you were talking about me then."

Takeshi flushed. "What makes you say that?"

"The fact that I heard you say that you can't ogle me. I didn't quite catch what you did with your hands, but I don't think I really want to know either way."

Takeshi's face turned a brighter red. "Well I can't! I mean, I _could_, but that would make us both uncomfortable." He stuck his tongue out at Satoshi and sat down in his seat.

"Where did you gain this amazing ability to get him to stop talking?"

Satoshi smiled at Daisuke. "After being around him for the past two years, I've picked up a few tricks."

Takeshi sat in his seat and glared at the board until the teacher walked in.

Despite the trio's familiarity with each other, the whole class, except Satoshi, was extremely nervous. Today was the first year of high school, and no one really knew what to expect. Even Satoshi had doubts being in high school at the same age as everyone else. The last time, he was only eight.

The teacher, Sato-sensei, walked into the classroom with an attendance book.

"Okay students, let's go ahead and get started. I'm going to assign seats and then I'm going to partner you up with someone. This person will be your homework partner for the year. Except for certain labs, you don't _have_ to do all of your homework with this person, but you know you'll have someone to ask just in case. Any questions?

"Can we pick our partners?" The teacher turned to Risa Harada and turned to his list.

"What is your name?"

"Risa Harada."

"Harada-san. No, I am picking people based on either grades or by status. Some people are new here and I want them to be paired with someone who knows the area. On that note, I'm going to start from the first desk here and go back from each row. When I call your name, go ahead and sit down."

All the students stood up with their things and looking at their classmates, curious as to whom their partner would be.

"Krad Hikari. Hoshi . Daisuke Niwa." The list continued for a while until he reached the last person. "And finally New (B) Name. These will be your assigned seats for the rest of the year." Daisuke looked at the row next to him at a guy one row ahead and wondered if purple hair would get him in trouble.

Takeshi banged his head on the desk repeatedly wondering how his luck was so terrible. He was sitting behind Satoshi and the only girls he could look at were Risa and a girl on the other side of the room. Risa was pretty, but he'd known her long enough that he felt like she was more of a sister. He hit his head on the desk again.

"Finally, I'm going to go ahead and assign partners. I'll start over here with Hikari-san who is partnered with Harada-san. Risa-san that is." Risa looked two seats to her left and looked closer at the tall blond. He looked a lot like the purple haired beauty sitting diagonally to him, but she couldn't tell for sure since the other guy was sitting behind her. Krad noticed Risa looking at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Niwa-san is partnered with Mousy-san." Daisuke saw the purple haired kid turn around.

"Hey! My name is Dark!" Daisuke smiled but before he could answer, the teacher interrupted them.

"No talking Mousy-san."

Daisuke shrugged at Dark and they looked ahead again.

It seemed like forever before Sato-sensei reached Riku whom he paired with Mio, another new girl who was sitting right behind her. They gave each other a quick smile, but didn't say anything to each other yet.

Finally, they reached the beginning of the last row and Takeshi was half praying at his desk. Satoshi was in front of him, and he hoped that someone behind him was paired with him, but the teacher dashed his hopes as he said, "Hiwatari-san is partnered Saehara-san."

Takeshi inwardly groaned. He was hoping for a girl he could spend some alone time with and maybe get his first high school girlfriend. Maybe he could arrange for group study dates with a girl's group. He might even tempt the unemotional one.

Satoshi, in front of Takeshi only smiled slightly and waited for the teacher to finish.

"For the last bit of business, you'll notice the board is set up with your names on top. For those of you who don't know, that is your rank. Try to rise in rank or keep a high position on it to improve your academic studies. The left side of the board will be the students whose grades aren't up to par and who will need to stay after school to work on things with me. The right side will be your assignments. If there are no questions, we'll go ahead and get started on class work. We'll start with Algebra."

Satoshi took careful notes and drew in the corners of his paper wondering how long it had been since he'd done any algebra. Takeshi wrote down what was on the board though he couldn't figure out why there were x's and y's mixed with numbers.

Dark discreetly passed a note back to Daisuke.

_During lunch, will you show me around school or would you rather sit and eat instead?_

_Dark_

Daisuke looked at it for a moment, thinking about the food he brought. Deciding it would be easy to walk with, he wrote, _I'll show you around school, but I don't really know it all that well either._

_That's fine. We can explore together and you can tell me about yourself._

_Wouldn't you rather know about the town?_

_That can come later. ;)_

Daisuke shrugged and turned back to his notes.

Mio played with strands of her hair and bit her lip drawing the attention the boys around her while Riku copied her notes down with as much accuracy as possible, determined to get past her number 2 rank and beat Satoshi.

Before long it seemed, it was time for lunch. As everyone pulled out their lunches, Dark jumped up and made his way over to Daisuke's desk.

"Are you ready to show me around the school now?"

Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "You seem…Excited? It's just a school you know."

"Yeah, but the only other person I know is Krad and I don't want to hang out with my brother all the time." Dark rolled his eyes. "That would be weird. And he's not fun. So let's go!" Dark moved closer toward the door and Daisuke shook his head and followed.

"I wish I were Niwa! I want to go hang out with Dark!"

"What's so great about my brother?"

"So Dark is your brother?" Risa turned to look at her new partner. "Well you _do_ look alike, but the different hair and last names threw me off a bit."

"We're actually twins. Fraternal, not identical and when our parents split up, we didn't stay together."

"Wow, that sucks. I don't know what I'd do without Riku!"

Riku, meanwhile, was talking with her new partner, Mio.

"So you're from the states?"

"Yep! My grandfather lives here and I wanted to test my Japanese, so here I am!"

"Well that's always a good reason." Riku laughed.

Compared with the rest of the room, Takeshi was prepared for the worst.

"Looks like you got the worst scenario. I'm sorry you're partnered with me." The hostility coming from Satoshi was making Takeshi cringe.

"Look, I'm sorry I made it sound like the worst possible scenario, I just meant that…Well, I'm a teenage boy! So are you! Wouldn't you like to be partnered with a girl who looks pretty?"

Satoshi just raised his eyebrows.

"Well, normal boys are like that."

"So I'm not normal?"

"I thought we decided that a long time ago."

"I'm so glad I don't care what other people say either."

Takeshi just hit his head on the desk.

"I'm taking you out for dinner. I'm sorry. You get to choose."

"So you're taking me on a date?"

"NOT a date! I'm feeding you. You don't eat enough."

"Aren't you a good cook?" Satoshi asked. "Why don't we go to your house for dinner and I'll help you with homework."

"What if I don't need your help?"

"You're ranked as 27 and I'm ranked first? I have a feeling you'll have trouble." Satoshi started eating his lunch effectively ignoring Takeshi.

"Smug bastard…"

**Well here's my story. I hope you enjoy. Review and tell me what you think!**


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